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Officials Speculate Detained Man
Had Part in the Terrorists' Plans

By

Tom Hamburger and

Nicholas Kulish Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Sept. 19, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON -- From the moment they heard that the World Trade Center had been attacked, law-enforcement officials in Minnesota began to wonder whether the French-Algerian man they were holding might be connected to the plot.

Three planes were taken over by five hijackers each that day, and one plane by just four. That simple arithmetic has driven investigators around the country to put a high priority on any information from or about Zacarias Moussaoui, a novice pilot who took flight lessons at a school in Oklahoma visited...